Gram stain: …devised by a Danish physician, Hans Christian Gram, in 1884. The Gram reaction reflects fundamental differences in the biochemical and structural properties of bacteria. A slide containing a heat-fixed smear of bacterial cells is treated with crystal-violet stain (a basic dye), during which the cells turn purple. The slide is…

Dulong–Petit law: gram-atomic heat capacity (specific heat times atomic weight) of an element is a constant; that is, it is the same for all solid elements, about six calories per gram atom. The law was formulated (1819) on the basis of observations by the French chemist Pierre-Louis…

Calorie, a unit of energy or heat variously defined. The calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat required at a pressure of 1 standard atmosphere to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1° Celsius. Since 1925 this calorie has been defined in terms of the joule, the definition since

antibiotic: Categories of antibiotics: …affect both gram-positive and some gram-negative bacteria. An extended-spectrum antibiotic is one that, as a result of chemical modification, affects additional types of bacteria, usually those that are gram-negative. (The terms gram-positive and gram-negative are used to distinguish between bacteria that have cell walls consisting of a thick meshwork of…

antibiotic: Categories of antibiotics: , penicillin G) affect primarily gram-positive bacteria. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, such as tetracyclines and chloramphenicol, affect both gram-positive and some gram-negative bacteria. An extended-spectrum antibiotic is one that, as a result of chemical modification, affects additional types of bacteria, usually those that are gram-negative. (The terms gram-positive

Grama grass, (genus Bouteloua), genus of about 50 species of annual or perennial grasses in the family Poaceae. Grama grasses are native mostly to North America, with a few species in Central and South America. The plants are important forage grasses, and several occasionally are grown as

South Asian arts: Precursors of the medieval system: …based on musical entities called grama-ragas, of which seven are mentioned in the 7th-century Kutimiyamalai rock inscription in Tamil Nadu state. Although the word grama-raga does not occur in the Natya-shastra, the names applied to the individual grama-ragas are all mentioned. Two of them, sadjagrama-raga and madhyamagrama-raga, are obviously related…

Grāmadevatā, (Sanskrit: “village deity”), type of folk deity widely worshiped in rural India. The grāmadevatās, often female figures, may have originated as agricultural deities; in South India and elsewhere they continue to be propitiated with animal sacrifices as a way of warding off and removing

Romance languages: The standardization of the Romance languages: …appearance of Antonio de Nebrija’s Gramática Castellana (“Grammar of the Castilian Language”), which argues the need for an ennobled language fit for imperial exportation. In 16th-century France, with the Renaissance backed by the Reformation and the advent of printing, French really assumed the remaining scholarly, scientific, and religious functions of…

Grameen Bank, Bangladeshi bank founded by economist Muhammad Yunus as a means of providing small loans to poor individuals (see microcredit). In 2006 Grameen and Yunus were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Grameen (Bengali: “Rural”) model, devised by Yunus in 1976, is based on groups of five

Artie Shaw: …combos that he called the Gramercy Five regardless of membership. While several public comebacks followed, including leadership of a U.S. Navy orchestra (1943–44), he dissociated himself from jazz almost totally after 1954 and did not play the clarinet again, although in 1983 he led a re-formed Artie Shaw Orchestra. He…

antibiotic: The first antibiotics: Two other early discoveries were gramicidin and tyrocidin, which are produced by bacteria of the genus Bacillus. Discovered in 1939 by French-born American microbiologist René Dubos, they were valuable in treating superficial infections but were too toxic for internal use.

Portugal: Further political strife: …ended the war with the Convention of Gramido (June 29, 1847). Saldanha governed until 1849, when Costa Cabral resumed office only to be overthrown in April 1851. Saldanha then held office again for five years (1851–56), and the period of peace finally allowed the country to settle down. This “Regeneration”…

Poaceae, grass family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the order Poales. The Poaceae are the world’s single most important source of food. They rank among the top five families of flowering plants in terms of the number of species, but they are clearly the most abundant and

primate: Pleistocene: …possibly adaptive for foraging in grassland where tree products were unavailable and ground products available but hard to get, which makes it an orangutan lineage that ran for a while in parallel with that of humans.

John Cornyn: Senate seat being vacated by Phil Gramm. Cornyn was elected with about 55 percent of the general vote, and he took office in December 2002 after Gramm resigned early. He became a member of the deputy minority whip team the following year and rose in the Republican Party Senate leadership,…

Sanford I. Weill: In 1999 the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was signed into law; it repealed the barriers of the Glass-Steagall Act. Thus, the merger was able to be completed, and in 1999 Weill became cochairman and co-CEO of Citigroup, then the largest financial services company in the world.

Grammar, rules of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. The word grammar also denotes the study of these abstract features or a book presenting these rules. In a restricted sense, the term refers only to the study of

Christianity: Apologetics: defending the faith: Catholic writers, John Henry Newman’s An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870) offered a major intellectual justification of the act of faith during what he viewed as a revolutionary, seismic period in the world of ideas. Modern Catholic scholars have made contemporary apologetics a component in the…

Owen Jones: …Eastern and Western design motifs, The Grammar of Ornament (1856), which presented a systematic pictorial collection emphasizing both the use of colour and the application of logical principles to the design of everyday objects.

positivism: The critical positivism of Mach and Avenarius: But The Grammar of Science (1892), written by Karl Pearson, a scientist, statistician, and philosopher of science, still receives some attention; and in France it was Abel Rey, also a philosopher of science, who, along the lines of Mach, severely criticized the traditional mechanistic view of…

George O. Curme: …German, best known for his Grammar of the German Language (1905, revised 1922) and for his Syntax (1931) and Parts of Speech and Accidence (1935)—the third and second volumes respectively of A Grammar of the English Language by Curme and Hans Kurath.

William Marsden: His Dictionary and Grammar of the Malayan Language, begun in 1786, were published in 1812 and form the basis of all subsequent Sumatran linguistics. Marsden’s scholarly work earned him many honours and distinctions.

Grammar school, in Great Britain, secondary school that offers an academic course in preparation for university entrance and for the professions. Students usually begin attendance at age 12. Before 1902, there was no system of publicly funded secondary education in Great Britain, and those

education: Higher education: …other hand, many schools of grammar or rhetoric acquired the character of public institutions supported (as in the Hellenic world) either by private foundations or by a municipal budget. In effect, it was always the city that was responsible for education. The liberal central government of the high empire, anxious…

Comparative linguistics, study of the relationships or correspondences between two or more languages and the techniques used to discover whether the languages have a common ancestor. Comparative grammar was the most important branch of linguistics in the 19th century in Europe. Also called

foreign-language instruction: …methods of teaching language are grammar-translation, the direct method, and the audiolingual method. Grammar-translation, long the accepted method, is focused primarily on reading and writing. Given the proper length of exposure and a competent, skillful teacher, students are usually able to acquire a foreign language this way. Pupils in European…

Noah Webster: …this direction was preparation of A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, the first part being The American Spelling Book (1783), the famed “Blue-Backed Speller,” which has never been out of print. The spelling book provided much of Webster’s income for the rest of his life, and its total sales…

Juraj Križanić: …are the valuable philological work Grammatichno izkazanye ob russkom yaziku (“Grammatical Instruction on the Russian Language”), which advocates political unity among the Slavs through linguistic unity, and Politika ili razgovor ob vladatelystvu (“Politics; or, a Discourse on Government”), which criticizes the Muscovite government, outlines reforms based on education and on…

ancient Rome: Grammar and rhetoric: The grammatici, who taught grammar and literature, were lower-class and often servile dependents. Nevertheless, they helped to develop a Roman consciousness about “proper” spelling and usage that the elite adopted as a means of setting themselves off from humbler men. This interest in language was expressed…

Aelfric, Anglo-Saxon prose writer, considered the greatest of his time. He wrote both to instruct the monks and to spread the learning of the 10th-century monastic revival. His Catholic Homilies, written in 990–992, provided orthodox sermons, based on the Church Fathers. Author of a Latin grammar,

John Philoponus, Christian philosopher, theologian, and literary scholar whose writings expressed an independent Christian synthesis of classical Hellenistic thought, which in translation contributed to Syriac and Arabic cultures and to medieval Western thought. As a theologian, he proposed certain

Saxo Grammaticus, historian whose Gesta Danorum (“Story of the Danes”) is the first important work on the history of Denmark and the first Danish contribution to world literature. Little is known of Saxo’s life except that he was a Zealander belonging to a family of warriors and was probably a

Gram (g), unit of mass or weight that is used especially in the centimetre-gram-second system of measurement (see International System of Units). One gram is equal to 0.001 kg. The gram is very nearly equal (it was originally intended to be equal; see metric system) to the mass of one cubic

energy conversion: Electric generators and motors: Dubbed the Gramme dynamo, this device contributed much to the general acceptance of electric power. By the early 1870s Gramme had developed several other dynamos, one of which was reversible and could be used as an electric motor. Electric motors, which convert electrical energy to mechanical energy,…

Zénobe-Théophile Gramme, Belgian-born electrical engineer who invented (1869) the Gramme dynamo, a continuous-current electrical generator that gave a major impetus to the development of electric power. An indifferent student, Gramme preferred to work with his hands. In 1856 he began work in a

Kelsey Grammer, American actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of the pompous, acerbic, but somehow lovable psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the television series Cheers and its spin-off Frasier. Grammer grew up in New Jersey and Florida and began acting in high school. Encouraged by his

Soapfish, any of about 24 species of marine fishes constituting the tribe Grammistini (family Serranidae; order Perciformes), occurring from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific region. In appearance, they are characterized by a reduced spinous dorsal fin and a slightly protruding lower jaw. The name

fern: Annotated classification: …dark hairs formerly classified in Grammitidaceae are now considered a specialized subgroup of Polypodiaceae.
Family Lindsaeaceae (lace ferns)
Plants mostly in soil or on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping, hairy or scaly; leaves one to three times pinnately compound, usually glabrous, sori marginal or submarginal, the indusium either lateral and…

fern: Annotated classification: …with about 1,200 total species; Grammitis and some 3–15 segregate genera (about 700 species) with green trilete spores and often characteristic dark hairs formerly classified in Grammitidaceae are now considered a specialized subgroup of Polypodiaceae.
Family Lindsaeaceae (lace ferns)
Plants mostly in soil or on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping,…

Louis Granmont, one of the most celebrated of French buccaneers, a scourge of the Spanish settlements bounding the Caribbean. Granmont first distinguished himself in service in the French royal marines, but, having illegally gambled away a captured prize cargo in Hispaniola (Haiti), he dared not

Grammy Award, any of a series of awards presented annually in the United States by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS; commonly called the Recording Academy) or the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS; commonly called the Latin Recording Academy) to recognize

Antoine-Agénor-Alfred, duke de Gramonte, French diplomat and statesman whose belligerent attitudes as foreign minister in 1870 helped push France, then diplomatically isolated and militarily unprepared, into a disastrous war with Prussia. Gramont was a member of an old aristocratic family. He

acoustics: Amplifying, recording, and reproducing: …an invention he called the gramophone. Much significant progress in recording and reproduction techniques was made during the first half of the 20th century, with the development of high-quality electromechanical transducers and linear electronic circuits. The most important improvement on the standard phonograph record in the second half of the…

Charter to the Gentry, (1785) edict issued by the Russian empress Catherine II the Great that recognized the corps of nobles in each province as a legal corporate body and stated the rights and privileges bestowed upon its members. The charter accorded to the gentry of each province and county in

Grampian Mountains, mountains in the Highlands of Scotland. They derive their name from the Mons Graupius of the Roman historian Tacitus, the undetermined site of the battle in which the Roman general Agricola defeated the indigenous Picts (c. ad 84). The name usually refers to the entire mass of

Grampus, (Grampus griseus), a common offshore inhabitant of tropical and temperate ocean waters, a member of the dolphin family (Delphinidae). The grampus measures about 4 metres (approximately 13 feet) in length and has a blunt head and a distinct longitudinal forehead crease. It is unique among

Grampus, (Grampus griseus), a common offshore inhabitant of tropical and temperate ocean waters, a member of the dolphin family (Delphinidae). The grampus measures about 4 metres (approximately 13 feet) in length and has a blunt head and a distinct longitudinal forehead crease. It is unique among

Antonio Gramsci, intellectual and politician, a founder of the Italian Communist Party whose ideas greatly influenced Italian communism. In 1911 Gramsci began a brilliant scholastic career at the University of Turin, where he came in contact with the Socialist Youth Federation and joined the

Esztergom, town, Komárom-Esztergom megye (county), northwestern Hungary. It is a river port on the Danube River (which at that point forms the frontier with Slovakia) and lies 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Budapest. The various forms of its name all refer to its importance as a grain market. It is

Gran Canaria, island, Las Palmas provincia (province), in the Canary Islands comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Spain, in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is the most fertile of the Canaries. It is nearly circular in shape and is characterized by the ravines that reach from the

Gran Canaria, island, Las Palmas provincia (province), in the Canary Islands comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Spain, in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is the most fertile of the Canaries. It is nearly circular in shape and is characterized by the ravines that reach from the

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish military leader renowned for his exploits in southern Italy. Fernández was sent to the Castilian court at the age of 13 and distinguished himself in the fighting following Isabella I’s accession (1474), and he played an increasingly important role in the war

Gran Chaco, lowland alluvial plain in interior south-central South America. The name is of Quechua origin, meaning “Hunting Land.” Largely uninhabited, the Gran Chaco is an arid subtropical region of low forests and savannas traversed by only two permanent rivers and practically unmarked by roads

Gran Colombia, short-lived republic (1819–30), formerly the Viceroyalty of New Granada, including roughly the modern nations of Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. In the context of their war for independence from Spain, revolutionary forces in northern South America, led by Simón Bolívar, in

Gran Colombia, short-lived republic (1819–30), formerly the Viceroyalty of New Granada, including roughly the modern nations of Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. In the context of their war for independence from Spain, revolutionary forces in northern South America, led by Simón Bolívar, in

Sonoran Desert, arid region covering 120,000 square miles (310,800 square km) in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, U.S., and including much of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, part of Baja California state, and the western half of the state of Sonora. Subdivisions of the

Gene Savoy: …of the site he named Gran Pajatén, a pre-Inca stone city, but this finding was contested by other researchers. In 1969 he sailed a raft of ancient Peruvian design from Peru to Panama in an effort to prove that the people of the Andes had contact with the Pacific coast…

Gran Paradiso, highest mountain, 13,323 ft (4,061 m), entirely within Italy and the culminating point of the Graian Alps (q.v.). The peak lies within a popular Alpine resort area and is the central attraction of the National Park of Gran Paradiso (1922). In September 1860 the Englishman John

Gran Paradiso National Park, park in northwestern Italy, established in 1836 as a hunting zone; in 1856 it became the Royal Hunting Reserve of the Gran Paradiso, and by a law passed in August 1947, the park received “autonomous organization” status. The park covers an area of 153,240 ac (62,000

Great Saint Bernard Pass, one of the highest of the Alpine frontier passes, at 8,100 feet (2,469 metres). It lies on the Italian-Swiss border east of the Mont Blanc group in the southwestern Pennine Alps. The pass connects Martigny-Ville, Switzerland (24 miles [39 km] north-northwest), in the Rhône

Gene Savoy: The Gran Saposoa ruins, which Savoy brought to the world’s attention after encountering them in a northern Peruvian cloud forest in 1999, added credence to this theory. Savoy wrote a number of books about his archaeological expeditions, including Antisuyo: The Search for the Lost Cities of…

Le Grand Tango, single-movement piece for cello and piano by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla that expresses the spirit of nuevo tango (“new tango”), a melding of traditional tango rhythms and jazz-inspired syncopation. Written in 1982, Le Grand Tango was published in Paris—thus its French rather

Western theatre: Spain’s Golden Age: 1635; The Great Theatre of the World) through the hierarchical concept that every man plays his part before God. This theme was also reflected in Calderón’s finest play, La vida es sueño (1635; Life Is a Dream).

Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the largest optical telescope in the world, with a mirror that has a diameter of 10.4 metres (34.1 feet). It is located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma (2,326 metres [7,631 feet]) in the Canary Islands of Spain. The mirror consists of 36

Clint Eastwood: 2000 and beyond: In Gran Torino (2008), Eastwood played Walt Kowalski, an irascible retired autoworker living in a blue-collar suburb of Detroit who is forced to shake off a lifetime of suspicion toward minorities so as to don the role of protector to a family of Hmong immigrants. The…

Madrid: Modern Madrid: This, the Gran Vía, was designed to be the main street of the city, and it has a characteristic vitality, with cinemas, coffeehouses, shops, and banks. Following the Civil War, it was renamed Avenida José Antonio after the founder of the Spanish fascist party, the Falange Española.…

chloroplast: Characteristics of chloroplasts: …tight stacks called grana (singular granum). Grana are connected by stromal lamellae, extensions that run from one granum, through the stroma, into a neighbouring granum. The thylakoid membrane envelops a central aqueous region known as the thylakoid lumen. The space between the inner membrane and the thylakoid membrane is filled…

Granada, kingdom founded early in the 13th century out of the remnants of Almoravid power in Spain by Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf ibn Naṣr al-Aḥmar, who became king as Muḥammad I (ruled 1232–73) and founded the Naṣrid dynasty. The kingdom comprised, principally, the area of the modern provinces of

Granada, city, capital of Granada provincia (province) in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain. It lies along the Genil River at the northwestern slope of the Sierra Nevada, 2,260 feet (689 metres) above sea level. The Darro River, much reduced by irrigation

Granada, city, southwestern Nicaragua. It lies at the foot of Mombacho Volcano on the northwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua at 202 feet (62 metres) above sea level. Granada was founded in 1523 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, and it soon became the economic hub of the region. As the longtime

Granada, provincia (province) in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. Its varied landscapes range from the arid zones of the Guadix and Baza plains in the north and centre to the fertile valleys and beaches of the Costa del Sol in

Louis XII: …of Naples, Louis concluded the Treaty of Granada (1500) with Ferdinand II of Aragon for a partition of that kingdom, which was conquered in 1501, but a year later the two kings were at war over the partition, and by March 1504 the French had lost all of Naples. By…

Enrique Granados, pianist and composer, a leader of the movement toward nationalism in late 19th-century Spanish music. Granados made his debut as a pianist at 16. He studied composition in Barcelona with Felipe Pedrell, the father of Spanish nationalism in music. He studied piano in Paris in 1887.

India: Mohenjo-daro: …the base of a great granary similar to that known at Harappa. Below the granary were brick loading bays. In the southern part of the mound an oblong “assembly hall” was discovered, having four rows of fine brick plinths, presumably to take wooden columns. In a room adjacent to this…

Grain weevil, (species Sitophilus granarius), insect of the family Curculionidae (order Coleoptera), a common pest of stored grain. This small brown weevil is about 3 to 4 mm (0.1 inch) long. The female bores a hole in an individual cereal grain and implants an egg in it. The fleshy white larva

encyclopaedia: The 19th century: …which became known as “Granat” after the Granat Russian Bibliographical Institute that produced it. A later edition (1910–48) of “Granat,” in 58 volumes, was not exported from the Soviet Union. Modeled on the Britannica, this edition contained many important articles, such as Lenin’s contribution on “Marx” and on “The…

Andy Granatelli, (Anthony Granatelli), American businessman (born March 18, 1923, Dallas, Texas—died Dec. 29, 2013, Santa Barbara, Calif.), placed STP (scientifically created petroleum) at the forefront of the motor-racing world through clever marketing campaigns that showcased both the STP logo

Andy Granatelli, (Anthony Granatelli), American businessman (born March 18, 1923, Dallas, Texas—died Dec. 29, 2013, Santa Barbara, Calif.), placed STP (scientifically created petroleum) at the forefront of the motor-racing world through clever marketing campaigns that showcased both the STP logo

Granby, city, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada, located on the Yamaska Nord River. It is named after a village in Nottinghamshire, England. From its origins as a small woolen-milling town in 1851, the city has grown to become a large industrial and commercial centre linked to

John Manners, marquess of Granby, British army officer, a popular British hero of the Seven Years’ War (1756–63). The eldest son and heir apparent of the 3rd duke of Rutland, he was styled the marquess of Granby by courtesy. He fought in Scotland in 1746 and in Flanders the next year. He was a

Al-Sanūsī, North African Islamic theologian who founded a militant mystical movement, the Sanūsīyah, which helped Libya win its independence in the 20th century. During his formative years in his native country, which was incorporated in the Ottoman Empire, al-Sanūsī observed the corruption of the

League of Augsburg, Coalition formed in 1686 by Emperor Leopold I, the kings of Sweden and Spain, and the electors of Bavaria, Saxony, and the Palatinate. The league was formed to oppose the expansionist plans of Louis XIV of France prior to the War of the Grand Alliance. It proved ineffective

War of the Grand Alliance, (1689–97), the third major war of Louis XIV of France, in which his expansionist plans were blocked by an alliance led by England, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the Austrian Habsburgs. The deeper issue underlying the war was the balance of power between the

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), patriotic organization of American Civil War veterans who served in the Union forces, one of its purposes being the “defense of the late soldiery of the United States, morally, socially, and politically.” Founded in Springfield, Ill., early in 1866, it reached its

Afghanistan: Mohammad Zahir Shah (1933–73): …1964 a Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) approved a new constitution, under which the House of the People was to have 216 elected members and the House of the Elders was to have 84 members, one-third elected by the people, one-third appointed by the king, and one-third elected indirectly by…

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